"Jannah? Jannah!!"

The voice of a woman called her. A middle aged woman, Jannah knew. And the voice was familiar indeed. Jannah rose with a cranky mood. It had been a quite a usual routine since her childhood, as far as she could remember. And she never planned to change it. She believed in going with the flow. This was another normal morning with a slight uniqueness.

"Jannah, you little pest, can't you hear me!?"

"Auntie?" Jannah rubbed her eyes innocently, even if she knew she had been hearing this sick old lady's voice for more than half an hour now.

"Move your lazy ass, the meeting is to be held today! What a shame you are to your father. Had he not asked me to check on you, you'd be dead by tomorrow!'

Yes, Jannah knew, she'd be dead by tomorrow if this kind lady didn't come to pull her out of the bed. Jannah felt like a little child on these days. On the days of meetings. Not the council meetings, which her father was a part of. But the meetings arranged by the Lord. The Lord of all and the God of the universe, they said. The God of Sun, they called him. Ra. The only word Jannah despised more than anything. Even more than the offensive stares the neighborhood boys cast down her body. Jannah exhaled with anger and got off the bed. On these days, she'd seldom go to the mirror and comb her hair. She'd just go out in the worst state, hoping she'd scare everyone. But no one gave her one look. She looked like having mixed in the crowd of average looking people, wearing a scarf around her head, covering more than half of her face and wore a shabby dress her father asked her to use to clean pots and floors of their little hut. It wasn't like she didn't have a better dress to wear. Her father was one of the members of the tribe council after all. She was well known not only because of her beauty but also the status of her father. But she had an urge to spoil her name on these days. She wanted to attract attention of that dummy she hated. But she always ended up getting camouflaged in this get up, which somehow still relieved her even if it didn't serve any purpose to her. She never liked to dress up clean on these days. Never. She wanted to be as filthy as possible.

Her friends would chuckle at her.

"What the hell are you wearing? And what's that on your face?" Misuk reached for her face to clear off a mud spot.

She flapped away his hand. Apparently, he was the only friend who had approached her today. Most of them were turning their backs on her as the days passed, seeing her constantly rebel against Lord's rule.

"He'll be here soon," Misuk said with a tone that warned. Warned her to be in control. She was flaming up for way too long.

Suddenly, everyone was bowing and Jannah once again tried to refute but Misuk was here for this job only. He made her bow down forcibly. She fell on her knees. The sand rubbed against her knees like an old mischievous friend with it's own way of greeting.

Today was the meeting. Ra used these days to announce his plans. Usually, they were construction plans and Jannah would roll her eyes. They said he created the world. Heck, he created all the creatures. The sand, the sky, the earth, the river, the moons. She always sighed when they said he created the moons.

Asking us create new things when he can do that himself in a blink. How do people believe this liar?

When Jannah slightly looked up, everyone was already standing. Ra had taken his seat on a beautiful throne, which, she remembered 50 men had made within three nights. She still remembered the lashes she'd hear every night from her home. The slaves constructed it on the land of their own tribe. With 5 guards on watch. The Jaffa guards. The slaves were the normal people of her tribe who led normal lives when there was no torture.

"Now, the hour of punishment!" A guard announced loudly and Jannah's heart felt heavy. This was the most frightening moment of these 'meetings'. Everyone always stayed quiet throughout these meetings but the silence stood out during this portion only. Jannah could feel the lump in her throat. She searched for her father in front of the crowd. He was looking fixedly in front of himself, alongwith the other council members and the leader of the council, an old man.

She knew her father's name would never be announced. He was a devout Ra worshipper. She always scoffed at the fact. She would have rather wanted her father to protest and be punished, like a hero than stand quietly and still talk in praise of this devil. He worshipped a devil, she always told herself. And that pained her more than the fear of her father's name getting called for any defiance.

"Kets Minur!" The next name was announced as each of them lined up. The ones who committed bigger crimes would be imprisoned, and they never returned back. Some of them, were executed right in front of everyone's eyes on execution days. But to her relief, never ever an innocent had been executed.

Still, the lashings those innocent people recieved in front of her on these meetings would scar her soul everytime.

Kets Minur was an ordinary man. He lived an ordinary life, to Jannah's knowledge. He was one of the slaves men appointed for the previous project of creating a temple in the Abydosian desert. He committed the crime of drinking water without asking the guard's permission. The punishment? 100 lashes. They said he recieved 10 lashes right on the spot, but still kept on drinking water. If he hadn't done that, he would have been spared. Jannah had laughed bitterly to herself when she heard this story last week.

He wasn't spared because he kept drinking water.

Could she do the same? Her eyes sparked. The petty crimes these abydosians committed would inspire Jannah everyday. One, she was committing right now. They had been given instructions that the council members along with their families must accumulate in the front part of the crowd and there Jannah was standing, way behind. Misuk always got tired to push Jannah to the front but she'd come back, and most of the times find a spot he couldn't where he couldn't find her. Today, he didn't try making her shift to her assigned place.

But still, she hadn't managed to attract any attention. She lowered her scarf a little, trying to get on terms with her fear, because this was the need of the hour.

She wanted to be the hero no one was waiting for.